Chapter Fifteen: Dance! Let's Boogie Down!

Ignoring the bard's orders for the moment, Ninoa decided to catch up with Lina -- the real one -- and talk with her for a moment. "Hello? Lina?" Ninoa spoke while sitting in midair, "I think you might be interested to know that I once traveled with a companion that looked similar to... her. To the girl that looks like you. It was uncanny, but I for some reason think that she may be the reincarnated spirit of that person, Rosa Vaira. What do you think?" Ninoa awaited Lina's response, seeming to forget all about their predicament.

Lina stopped quickly, letting Gourry run into her. They both fell over. "Gah!" she screamed, pushing him off of her with a slight blush. She tilted her head at Ninoa's question. "Hm... I don't know."

Gourry blinked. "Who's Rosa?"

Filia stopped also, looking back, just as clueless. "Rosa?" She asked the same, walking back towards the group. "That sounds somewhat familar... perhaps I have met her?"

Ninoa replied, looking straight at Filia and not at where she was going, "I'm not sure. Maybe because she was once an ancient dragon?" She then accidentally floated into a rocky overpass as the group walked on, and landed on the ground with a thud.

Not having noticed that, Filia pondered the explanation for a moment. "Perhaps. But I didn't know of any ancient race of dragons until I met Valgaarv... and learned of his dreadful past." Her eyes then began to quiver with pure emotion as she walked onwards, following Lina and Gourry.

Ninoa eventually recovered from her slip-up and dusted herself off. She decided to head off towards the temple as originally planned by Arcius, and floated down that way while humming a tune (which, incidentally, sounded almost exactly like the opening song to Slayers NEXT). She then spotted it looming large in the centre of the city, and zoomed across towards the entrance to try and find Ren. She landed on her feet at the entrance of the temple, at the top of the marble stairs, and peered around. He didn't seem to be anywhere among its giant columns, so she took off once more with a puzzled look on her face. Maybe she'd be able to find him by floating off above the rooftops.

After a while, Lina sighed. Her group just... walked, no talking, no nothing. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy peace and quiet but... Filia was getting all depressed again, and it was begining to rub off a little onto her.

Looking abruptly at Gourry, she grinned. Gourry looked back happily, looking into her crimson eyes. "Lina, we're gonna help Filia! And I can't wait till I get to use my Sword of Light again!" He was happy, knowing that if Lina was there, it truly didn't matter if his Sword was there anymore or not....

Gently, he placed his arm around her shoulders. Lina blushed, and silently smiled. She didn't mind the silence so much anymore.

"Anyway," Filia spoke in a whisper, finally breaking the silence. "Do you suppose we are going the correct way? Or perhaps... in circles?" Her mind was swirling as well. So many questions left answerless. It wasn't fair, but then again, neither was life. "Thank you for helping me."

"Wheeee!" suddenly squealed the form of a large redheaded man as he belly-flopped from the roof of a tall building, fully intending to land on the woman with a tail and white robes.

Filia looked up and face-faulted, sidestepping him and watching as he made an impression of his body in the street before her. Sigh.... She shook her head in annoyance. "Baka...."

Zelgadis walked along in silence somewhat behind Arcius, Tim, and Briar. This is getting ridiculous, he thought. Damn you, Arcius!

It seems that things will never truly work out for everybody�s favorite chimera, now doesn�t it? You�d think the guy could catch a break sometimes, that maybe he�d get his due for services rendered, right?

Well whenever that happens it�ll be awfully nice for him, but it just won't be right now. Not when a blur of dusky bronze and purple abruptly leaped down from a rooftop, racing along on silent bare feet and suddenly catching Zelgadis from behind.

A violet tail wrapped about the chimera�s waist. Snugly clad thighs hugged his sides. An arm slipped loosely around his neck, while the other rested crooked atop his head, along with the chin of a nonchalant Rill Tane.

Stumbling forward under the sudden weight and impact, Zelgadis yelped, "What the - ?!" and spun around, Rill still clinging to his back. He reversed direction, then looked back over his shoulder. The chimera's eyes bugged out; he facefaulted, then fell over sideways in shock.

Tim looked at the scene and out of the corner of his mouth muttered the following words. "Zelgadis, this is Rill. Rill, this is Zelgadis."

Rill blinked and quickly became aware of a falling sensation. He let out a keening wail and held tighter to Zelgadis as the chimera toppled over. After landing, Rill shifted about, soon looming over the downed Zelgadis. Rather closely -- since his tail was now trapped under the stone-boy. Rill stared at Zelgadis' wide eyes and shocked demeanor. He looked up at Tim with huge eyes of his own, glassy with exaggerated tears. "I think I killed it."

Zel quickly zipped to his feet, trying to look as if nothing had happened. He handed Rill's tail back to him and backed up, folding his arms in an 'I'm cool, and I meant to do that' posture and scowled as only Zelgadis could scowl.

Then he exploded. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?!"

The small and odd boy simply sat there on the ground, blinking curiously up at the irate chimera. He then grinned wide, and with an exclamation of joy, pounced Zelgadis from the front this time, again coiling his tail about the stone-boy's waist as well as having his other limbs hook securely about in various places. "Great L-sama! You can talk too. You're not just a pretty golem now are you?" Rill purred and nuzzled Zelgadis' cheek, hugging him tight.

Zelgadis veritably glowed red with rage, waves of anger coming off him as obviously as if he were Lina being called flat-chested. Although he might not have realized it, Rill was very, very lucky that Zel could not cast a Dragon Slave.

After standing stone-still for a long moment, face turning more and more gruesome by the second, Zelgadis yelled, "I'm not a golem! Damn you Rezo!!" and with an explosive crack of lightning in the background he attempted to throw Rill off himself and up into the air - where he could then be safely blasted and catapulted off with a bom di wind.

"By the way, in case you're wondering, this isn't my doing either, Tim," Briar whispered.

Tim stared off into space, deep in thought for just a moment before speaking. "I know you're not responsible for this. For any of this. It was I who was being used as a pawn. A Shinzoku pawn. I'm not worried about leaving here. Both Shinzoku and Mazoku wish us to succeed on that account." He then reached over and kissed her, then smiled. "THAT was also not your doing. It's nice not to have a spliting headache for once. Between the two of us, I think there are least four sides operating here and I don't have enough information to decide which one I'm going to join. Then again, knowing me, I'll end up on a different side all together... SIGH. I'm glad to see you back, though."

Briar's cheeks reddened just slightly. "Awfully forward, aren't you?" She smiled. "Let's go, bard." She gave the pile that was Rill and Zel a cursory glance. "Leave them to their games. I want out."

Tim looked at Zel and Rill once more, and cringed. Better Zelgadis than me, he thought. Tim walked futher on, replying to Briar's comment. "No. Rill was forward. All I did was give you a kiss." Tim's features soon held a devilish grin. "Not that you were resisting, by the way. It beats us trying to kill each other."

"True."

"My name is Rill, not Rezo," the odd boy pointed out quite directly, having no real knowledge of the dire mistake he had made. As Zelgadis' anger flared up and he attempted to remove the boy from his person, Rill again began to shift about. Thus he wriggled nimbly away from the chimera's hands, and like a great multi-limbed snake, Rill circled Zelgadis to embrace him from behind as before. Dexterous fingers came to Zelgadis' shoulders, kneading the stone flesh in massage. Rill moved close, whispering into the fine and elongated ear, "Why are you so riled up? So tense? Is this because of my calling you a golem? I am sorry, it was only that I never believed such a lovely creature existed outside of such Earthen Magics."

"I'm not a golem! I'm a human! I hate my body and want to get rid of it!" the chimera yelled violently. "Now get off me so I can go back to looking for a way how to!" He twisted in a circle, still trying to grab at Rill - the result was quite a comical dance of gray and purple spinning round and round.

Zel's movements became progressively more and more violent and erratic - at this rate he'd lose his balance again. He practically screamed, "Rezo! Damn you!"

It was fun; somewhat nauseating and certainly dizzying, but fun, this going round in circles like some sort of wild top. A shame that Zelgadis had to spoil it with all his hollering. Whoever this Rezo guy was, he must have done something terrible to the chimera.

The mad spinning caused Rill to hold tighter, fearful that he would fall, although that was sort of the point. Joyous, although he truly did not mean to convey it so obviously in his tone, he again spoke into Zelgadis' ear. "Hate your body? Why?! It's so wonderful and beautiful. Besides, Humans can be so boring. You're much more interesting this way. Interesting, unique, and downright lovely!" And Rill laughed, though certainly not with any malice or cruel intent, only with a cheerful vigor.

Zel eventually stopped spinning, having managed at least to get Rill facing him and his hands gripping the boy's shoulders. Prying Rill off of himself, Zel set him neatly and calmly on the ground then suddenly became a monstrously-faced giant while Rill became chibi.

He yelled loudly, "Rezo used his magic to turn me into a monster! I have been running around to the ends of the earth - past the ends of the earth -- fighting Mazoku and having to put up with Lina Inverse looking for a way to reverse the spell...." He loomed even taller. "And I Don't Have Time to Play With Some Weird Little Kid!"

After Zelgadis' tirade, Rill stayed there quite placidly and still, save for the metronome twitch from the tip of his tail. Then the corners of his lips curled upward and his shoulders shook; he bowed forward and then inclined back quickly, laughing. "I should think that one having seen such things and in such a physical situation," Rill crossed his arms, and leaned slightly to the left, supporting his weight on the one leg. His violet eyes narrowed in a predatory gaze at Zelgadiss, "would do better than assume that I am some weird little kid. Although," and his grin grew sly, "I should very much like to play with you, lovely monster."

Zel waved his arms in the air. "Won't you be serious?!" He huffed, then abruptly turned all Zelgadis-cool. "I have to find the Astral Sabre and get the power to return by body to normal," he said quietly. "Either you're going to help me," he narrowed his eyes at Rill in a predatory fashion, "or you're in my way."

Again that sly and fanged grin fell to Rill's lips. Although it had never truly left, it now seemed to take on a new level of devious delight. He held up three fingers like some parody of a pledge. "There is of course the third option," and here he paused for needless drama, "I oppose you at every turn." He strode up to Zelgadis, his tail wafting to and fro, and closed the short distance between them with yet another example of absurd closeness. "And sweet Chimera, about this I am quite serious." Leaning up, he gave Zelgadis a quick kiss, hardly more than a peck upon the lips, and the most prominent thought in his mind afterward was This is going to hurt....

Zelgadis' grey face turned beet red -- first in a blush, then in Lina-esque rage. He pushed Rill roughly away from himself, then drew back a hand, and... "Fire... Ball!" A roiling ball of magical flame, powered by the chimera's rage and sped on by by his embarrassment, flew at the boy.

Rill screamed as the fireball careened towards him. He cringed, allowing the sphere of flame to impact on him, not even trying to dodge it. Fires flared about him, and when they dissipated moments later, Rill lay as a toasty little critter on the ground.

He coughed little puffs of soot, while remaining sprawled and dazed. "That was cruel and harsh, *cough*." From his position flat on his back, he raised a fist defiantly. "But I won't be deterred, I won't be!" The hand fell with a soft 'thump' as Rill passed out.

Zel smirked and regained his composure at being called cruel and heartless. "I like the sound of that." He started off again to catch up with his group in searching the city, leaving Rill behind.

A long purple ear twitched, and eyes just as purple fluttered open. Rill's tail beat on the ground in a volatile fashion. "So, he gets a kick out of being a sadist." He jumped up, the soot and dirt falling off of him in a cloud. "I can work with that!" His ears then drooped and he looked pitifully dejected. "But I can't work with why they keep leaving me!" Lamenting, he skipped along to reach the others.

Sai just kept his mouth shut, looking around at the weird strangers and... was that Rill over there, playing with a stone-skinned man? "What a crew...." Sai knelt down and lowered his head, muttering to himself for a while, then clenched his fist. "Oh man. Why must everything go wrong?"

It had taken a while, but Oni had marshalled his forces, such as they were. Now he and his minions were in the middle of Kytares' catacombs, looking down on the underground city through a hazy green barrier. "There's our target, my friends," said Oni, pointing towards Arcius's group from afar.

Froard flung his arms around Oni's neck. "I knew you cared, big guy." The changeling suddenly found himself being hit by four thousand volts of electricity.

The charred clump landed on the ground as Oni raged. "IT WAS A FIGURE OF SPEECH, YOU CRETIN!"

"I'll know better next time," said the smoking body.

Oni sneered, then turned back to watch the group beneath them walk on. "We have to move fast if we want to grab our prize." He turned back to Froard, who now looked fully healed. "I want you to cause some mayhem. Can you become anything that would give them a sweat?"

Froard looked out at the group, then burst into a bright light. When the light cleared, the elf form was gone, replaced by a giant three-headed dog with wings. "Will this work?" asked one of the beast's heads.

"It will do," stated Oni. "Now go!" As Froard took to the air, Oni turned to Thorn. "How will you contribute to this raid of ours, my dear?"

Thorn studied the green barrier between them and the hapless party below. She winced when Froard bounced off of it and tumbled to a heap on the ground. "Makes up for his lack of common sense with his enthusiasm, doesn't he?" She smiled, a nauseating expression on her withered face. "When the barrier goes down, I can do a number of things. It depends on whether or not you are looking for a fight or not. I can layer the target with a spell and affect the others so that none of them are aware of anything but the layered spell. I can displace you so you always appear six feet to the right of where you really are. I could invoke the visages of those whose names are spoken with fear, even by the gods. My power is versatile. What would you like for me to do?"

She took another look at the group. "My mistress is there, so she will 'fight' against us. Rest assured, though. We shall aid you."

"Very good," Oni replied. "As for whether or not I want a fight, you better believe it. I never go anywhere without making a scene." He smiled to himself as he drew his sword. "Tell your mistress that we're here." Oni then pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, and then became transparent. All Thorn could see was a slight outline. "How you want to attack is up to you. Just make sure it's deadly," came Oni's voice. The outline disappeared as he moved towards the barrier.

The girl who looked like Lina walked quickly, muttering to herself. Her cloak was drawn tightly around her against the wind, and she was utterly alone.

She hadn't intended for that to happen. She'd tried to follow the guy with the hat, and the creepy floating man, and the grubby boy, like Arcius had asked. But she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere... or maybe that couple seconds' rest in a doorway had stretched out into minutes without her realizing it.

Anyway, she was feeling better now that the last remnants of that Pain spell had finally worked their way out of her system. Of course, she'd be feeling much better once her magic came back, but you can't have everything, now can you.

Right now, she'd settle just for finding a way out of this darned city. She turned around and looked behind her, at the too-silent, too-still rows of houses that stretched as far as she could see. It had been quite a walk, but she'd finally made it to the outskirts of the city, and from there it had only been a short jaunt to the cliff wall that surrounded it all.

The cliff face; a solid, seamless curtain of rock, ringing the entire city round and stretching up to form a rocky roof over the silent, faintly glowing metropolis. She'd never seen anything like it before. Well, when you've only been alive for the past five months, there are bound to be a lot of sights you've never seen before... but she was pretty sure that this would be a rare sight even for seasoned explorers. A cavern large enough to contain a city. She'd be impressed -- if, that is, she didn't have more pressing things to think about.

Maybe there's a door in the cliff face, she thought to herself, and took to inspecting it carefully as she strode along beside it. Though what guarantee would she have, if she found such a door, that it would lead out past the magical barrier that sealed them all inside...?

Then she stumbled across something that made her halt in her tracks. Not a doorway, but a niche carved into the rocky wall, big enough for a person to stand in. And there was something standing in the niche; not a person, but easy enough to mistake it for one. It was a statue, its pale marble carved into such a likeness of a living being that the girl could almost swear she saw it breathing.

Its marble clothes were of a foreign style, with a cape - - or was it a skirt? -- sweeping out from its slender waist. Its legs and arms were covered in some sort of armour, and its straight, shoulder-length carven hair framed its smooth face. Two cold stone hands, encased in marble gauntlets, clasped each other in front, and its eyelids were serenely closed. She couldn't tell whether it was supposed to be a statue of a girl or a boy -- at least, not until her eyes fell on its bare chest. If this was supposed to be a girl, it was even flatter than she was, and that was saying something.

"A statue?" she said out loud, and peered closely at it for a few moments. It was the first interesting thing she'd seen since arriving at the cliff face. It had to be important. Maybe it opens up a passageway if you pull on its arms or something...! It didn't seem all that likely, but it was all she had to work with, so she stepped forward and reached out.

"Keep your hands to yourself!" The voice was loud, snappish, and utterly unexpected. Lina's double froze in place, one hand only centimetres away from touching the statue. She slowly looked up, her eyes meeting marble eyes, which were now wide open and glaring at her. "What're YOU looking at? Never seen a statue before?" Then its carven mouth quirked into something approaching a smile; its stone hands unclasped themselves and moved fluidly to rest on its hips. It stood there arms akimbo, one marble brow delicately arched, awaiting a response.

The girl thought furiously. This isn't like any statue I've ever seen before. Not that I've seen a lot of statues. But I think I'd have heard about it if statues normally moved around like this. Maybe it isn't a statue. But it said it was a statue. But statues don't move, and they don't speak either. Maybe it's some guy impersonating a statue. Painted himself all marble- coloured. No, that's silly, it'd take too much work and it'd look fake anyway. So what the heck is going on...?

As she normally did when her thoughts ran wild, she paid little heed to the words that issued forth from her mouth. "I didn't think there were marble quarries this far north...."

"Hah!" barked the statue-boy, amused despite himself. "Ever stop to think that I might not come from 'round here, girl?"

"Oh. Right," she said absently. "I shoulda thought of that." Then she abruptly remembered her mission. This moving statue was the first living being... well, sort-of-living being... she'd come across in the entire city. If anyone would know a way out, then logically....

Getting down to business, she pushed her flame-red hair out of her face, despite all the wind's efforts to blow it into her eyes. Facing the statue, she firmly asked, "Do you know a way out of this city?"

"Do I?" it said, then posed, chin in hand, seemingly deep in thought. "Why, that depends!" it finally said, fixing her with its bright marble gaze.

"Depends?" she repeated, taken aback. "Depends on WHAT?"

"On what YOU can do for ME!" One gauntleted finger coyly twirled its carven locks, its gaze suddenly sly.

"So you CAN get me out of here?" asked the girl eagerly.

"I never said that." The statue smirked.

Lina's doppelganger blinked. "Wha-? But you just said...."

"You asked me if I KNEW a way out. You never asked if I could GET you out." The note of mockery in its tone was obvious.

"Well, CAN you get me out? And my friends too?" she hurriedly asked, somehow resisting the temptation to growl at this annoying statue.

"Let me think," it said, grinning widely, then made quite a show of being deep in thought, humming and looking off to the side. The redheaded sorceress, for her part, wondered if it was physically possible to strangle a statue. Finally it turned back to her and announced, "It depends!"

"That's good enough for me!" the girl said, her smile tight and almost humourless. With that she turned her back to the statue and jogged a few steps back towards the city. Arcius said if we find anything, to send some kind of signal so everyone can see it and gather together. Abruptly she realized that, with her magic temporarily gone, she didn't really have any way of signalling anyone. Damnit!

She could manage a Lighting spell, so she cast one and sent the weakly glowing ball of light up into the air above her. She realized glumly that its glow would probably be swallowed up by the city's own faint glow. Damnit, damnit, damnit. She made it dance around erratically in the air, but soon dissolved the useless spell.

The statue's mocking voice rang out behind her. "Oh dear, looks like it's that time of the month, eh?" She growled under her breath; this stony boy was getting on her nerves! Out of sheer frustration she snapped a Flare Arrow into the air. A small plume of flames curled up above her and promptly fizzled out. "Ooh, I'm scared! Remind me not to get on your bad side!" giggled the statue.

Trying desperately to keep herself from kicking it and breaking her foot, she dashed back towards the city. Clambering up onto the roof of one of the taller buildings nearby, she drew a deep breath. This was the only solution she could think of for her little dilemma. Wishing she had half the vocal projection of the bard, she cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled with every ounce of energy she could muster.

"HEEEEY EVERYBODYYYY! I'VE FOOOUND SOMETHIIIIING!!"

From where he was accosting Constance, Geltro heard the shout and looked up. "You may have a chance to show me your strength, instead of telling me, woman." He dismissed Constance. "Let's see what the useless one has found."

Geltro made his way towards the source of the shout, eventually coming across Copy-Lina and her Metamorphic friend. He waited for the wizard, the woman and/or the swordsman to arrive, but they did not show up immediately, and time was short.

Gathering up his courage, and cursing himself for a hasty fool, Geltro stepped out of the shadows and approached the two. "You yelled. I'm here. What's the story?" Geltro spoke to Copy-Lina, while eyeing the statue-being warily. He was just a tad unsettled when the statue winked playfully at him.

The redheaded sorceress seemed overly glad to see the scruffy boy. "Yes! Someone showed up!" She jogged over to his side.

The marble creature leaned back, arms folded over its bare stone chest. "This is your friend, girl?" it said with a smirk. "Wouldn't want to meet your enemies!"

"Shut up!" she replied irritably, then turned back to Geltro, brightening considerably. "Is everyone coming? How far are they? Has anyone else found anything useful? Any hints of a way out yet?"

"I mean, the kid looks like you fished him out of a garbage dump."

"Shut UP!"

Still a little startled by Geltro's prodding, Constance shook her head, as if to clear her mind, then went to follow him to Copy-Lina.

When she finally caught up to him, the first thing her eyes fell upon was the statue. "Wow..."

It turned smoothly towards her and grinned. "You're quite the looker yourself, toots!" She suddenly had the urge to slap its marble face.

Vrummy heard the signal quite clearly. He wasn't talking, Zangulus wasn't talking, and Geltro had long since disappeared. Though hesitant to leave Zangulus behind, Vrumugun wanted to check out this potential exit. He figured the swordsman would make his way over there eventually. He was, admittedly, a tough one; he'd be okay, Vrumugun decided. So thinking, the ever-creepy wizard disappeared.

By now, Briar was walking with her hand on her skirt, trying to keep it from blowing up. Up in the heights of the city, the wind sounded dully with a faint roar. "Do you hear something?" she asked.

Seconds later, a spell went off in the distance. "That's our signal, right? Someone's found a way out!"

"I think you are correct, Lady Rose," Arcius said. "Come, Lord Zelgadis. You and your... new acquaintance should probably tag along. Would one of you give a better signal so the others will know we're moving?"

Briar started to say something, but she was interrupted by a curse from Zelgadis, which was immediately followed by a small, loud explosion, which was promptly followed by Rill going airborne. The four of them began running, following the exhaust trail of Rill.

Zelgadis dusted off his hands and tried his best to remain nonchalant while following somewhat behind the others, as usual.

"Huh?" Copy-Lina was confused. There it was, an explosion off in the difference, complete with brief flashes of purple for some strange reason. "Is that supposed to be a signal? Has someone over there found a real way out?" Then she noticed the purple streaks were soaring straight towards her and the others gathered around the statue. "Ohhhhkay...."

The statue seemed delighted. "Hey, it's a delivery!" it announced with laughing eyes. Soon enough, there was a whistling noise, followed by a loud 'thunk'. The purplish whatever-it-was had landed. Right on top of poor Geltro....

Baffled by the statue's actions, Geltro was completly unprepared when the strange purple beast-boy plummetted out of the sky. With a yelp, the two boys crashed to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

When it cleared, Rill could be seen mournfully rubbing the end of his sore tail... as he sat casually accross Geltro's shoulders.

Geltro, for his part, was lying flat, spreadeagled in the dust. He spat out some grit and attempted (wholly unsuccessfully) to rise. "Somebody is going to pay for this. I don't know when or how, but somebody is. Get off me, you ox!"

Constance looked at poor Geltro and gasped in surprise at first, but after awhile, she couldn't help herself. Caught up in a fit of giggling, she offered her hand to Rill. "Here... need some help?" she offered when she caught her breath and composed herself a few seconds later.

Geltro, still pinned under Rill, fumed quietly to himself and plotted his eventual revenge.

The sound of explosions suddenly rang out through the city. Lina turned abruptly and looked up at the strangely purple-tinted blast, sweatdropping. "That's MY job!" she said, pouting.

Gourry tried to take in the big explosions. Really, he did. He looked at the flames, heard the noise, and tried to make it all connect. Then he remembered that he was Gourry. Gourry can't understand anything. So, seeing as he was indeed Gourry, and Lina was, as always, with him, he did what any other Gourry would have done in that situation. He blinked intelligenty, turned to Lina with a blank expression painted on his handsome, if not intelligent face, and asked most likely one of the most intelligent questions he could think of. "Ne, Lina-san, where did the big explosion come from?"

Lina sweatdropped, pointing into the distance. "Well, Gourry... I'd say it came from over there, but more importantly, it's POINTING towards somewhere... over there. By the cliff face. I have this odd feeling we know the people responsible for it all...." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. She was often sarcastic when it came to wanton destruction. "Anyways, I think we should get moving. I mean, something big must've happened over there!" With that, she grabbed Gourry's wrist and proceeded towards the signal at a dead run.

Lyssa sat in that weird other dimension thingy, watching her 'friends' through a tiny little orb, thinking to herself that this was just getting too damn weird... yep, too damn weird for her. So she decided to simply sit there in the Time Gate, where everything was purple, swirly, and wiggled like jello when you touched it. Nothing wrong with that, perfectly normal and safe... 'specially with her 'Guardian' wandering by every once in a while.

WOW he's cute....I wish He didn't think I was a frikkin' kid, though. He's worse than Mister Gourry.... She sighed and forced herself to stop thinking altogether. Then she settled back against the purple swirly jello stuff to watch the party as they slowly gathered together around a strange statue. If they needed her help, which she doubted they would, she would step in. Otherwise, she'd sit back, relax, and watch her dearest Darius pass by....

Tim looked at the statue and the rest of the parties now assembled in front of it. Somebody had to ask the question... so Tim decided to. "This is cute. So the path is this way, huh? What's the catch?"

Eric scratched his head. "Maybe if we ask it nicely?" he said, and wondered if he was going to regret it.

Geltro growled faintly under his breath. As time went on, more and more people showed up around the statue, and Rill continued to not get off his back, the young thief became increasingly annoyed. Finally, he'd had enough. "Hey, Purple, you wanna see a trick?" he growled.

Rill blinkblinked.

Geltro, pinned face down as he was, could not easily aim spells at the strange tailed boy, at least not ones safe to use this close to himself. So Geltro had to improvise. "RAYWING!" A protective shield of air arose around both boys. "And now for the kicker!" Geltro grinned wickedly. "DILL BRANDO!" The eruption of earth threw the shield and its contents high into the air. Then it was a simple matter for Geltro to drop Rill out of the bubble, and float gently back to the ground, letting the clingy purple one fend for himself.

"Everyone is out to get me!" Rill screamed and plummeted headfirst to the ground, creating a crater any falling meteor would be proud of. After the cloud of dust and smoke sifted away into the air, a very disheveled Rill crawled up and out of the hole. Slinking low to the ground, he lay there dejectedly for a moment before curling himself up tightly, holding his precious tail close. His eyes grew large and watery, and his big pouting lip gave every indication that he would burst out in tears at any moment. "You people are such sadists."

Arcius absently noted the purple scaly one land with a thud, the scruffy thief landing gently nearby. Dismissing this, he looked to the Lina who had called everyone together. "What have you found, Lady Inverse?"

"Yeah," came a voice from an entirely unexpected direction. The statue itself. It placed its marble hands on its hips and quirked one stony brow. "What have you found, toots?" it said to the girl who looked like Lina.

"Ah," replied Arcius. "A talking statue!"

Mimicking the bard, the statue returned, "Ah, a talking fabric sampler!"

Arcius smiled, ignoring or completely missing the dripping sarcasm. "Wonderful! I am Arcius, Lord Statue. How do you do?"

The statue blinked, then gave a narrow-eyed grin. "Things are getting more interesting, actually."

Arcius beamed. "Wonderful!" Turning to Copy-Lina, he asked, "Is this the way out?"

The statue beat her to the answer. "No. But I just might know of one," it smirked.

"Really?" said Arcius. "Since you do, what must we do to persuade you to reveal such a thing?"

"What?" The statue looked flustered. "Who said I actually knew anything? I could just be toying with you."

Arcius looked startled. "Truth. Such a thought had not occured to me." Frowning, he looked at the others. "Come along, then. We had best check the other areas. There is obviously nothing here." He turned and began walking away.

"W-waitaminute! Where are you going?" the statue stammered. "The exit isn't that way."

"So you do know the way out! Wonderful!" Arcius abruptly pivoted. "However can we pay you?"

The look of fustration on the statue's face was replaced by a smug look. "Well, well, well. What can you provide for me? I can't think of anything I need right now. Come back later."

Arcius smiled. "Of course. Assuming there is a later, I will most definitely return. Come along, Lords and Ladies. There is nothing here after all." He pivoted again and began to walk away.

The statue blinked. "W-wait! Where are you going?"

Arcius looked over his shoulder. "To find a way out, Lord Statue. If there is nothing we can do for you, then there is no point in us standing around here waiting for death. Since you can not move from that pedestal, there may be another way out that you are unaware of. And since there is very little time, we need to hurry."

The statue glared at Arcius. "You're no fun."

Arcius smiled benignly. "So you have found something we can do for you?"

The statue smiled evily. "Yes. I will tell you, if, and only if, you can perform a dance for me." A burst of dramatic music suddenly flared up from out of nowhere. "Dance the Hoofer-Hoppe-Crawlie-Trot." Its marble eyes glittered mavolently as it recalled the most obscure and horrible of the forbidden dances.

Vrumugun arrived just in time to hear the statue's request, and shuddered. Although not entirely familiar with the dance, he had some preliminary knowledge. "Oh no," was all he said. He backed off before anyone saw him, deciding that he'd be best off staying away until this was over. If they saw him, he'd get dragged in. And that, he most certainly couldn't handle.

Tim looked at Arcius, then looked at the statue, absorbing all the information provided by it both intentionally and inadvertently. He really didn't feel like dancing at the moment. What sounded good to him was a nice supper in a comfortable inn, perferably with Briar. The ale he'd gotten from Ashrid would compliment the whole affair nicely, he thought, grinning.

He knew he really shouldn't do the thing which had just crossed his mind. Being a smart-alec now would be a bad thing. Briar was definitely NOT a good influence on him. In the end, however, the temptation proved to be too great. He walked to the statue and with a devil-may-care grin, asked the following:

"Which one of the fifty-nine variants of that dance would you like?"

Sai looked down, from his vantage point atop a nearby building, at the wailing Rill. "Um... are you okay, Rill?" He figured it was the best and most polite thing to say, not being adept at understanding emotions. Then he sighed, hopped down towards the scaly boy, and offered him a tissue. "You know, Rill, you really should calm down."

Ninoa suddenly popped out of somewhere and offered a hand. "Oh, Rill," she spoke in a soothing voice. "Everyone isn't out to get you. Now dry your eyes and here, you can cuddle Moshi for a moment if you wish." She then offered Rill the tiger doll for a moment with a smile upon her face.

Sai smirked. "Ah. Well said, Ninoa." Then he remembered something, and fixed the strange Mazoku woman with a piercing look. "Um, Ninoa, I've been meaning to ask you something... is there something... special about Moshi?" He did his best to keep his emotions in check.

"Um." Ninoa blushed and turned away. "Let's just say that Moshi was a gift." She then continued to comfort Rill, fussing over him and babying him a bit.

For a while there, Rill merely sat cross-legged, long ears drooping, staring downward at the dirt and drawing little designs with a finger before wiping them quickly away. He did chance to look up at Ninoa and her Moshi once, giving them an obviously strained smile. His only thought on Moshi was that he couldn't possibly eat it, the thing didn't even look remotely edible. The girl was surely mad.

Then his ears got to twitching, listening, picking up several things from several people. It was then that he began to realize the sheer size of the group he was with. A seemingly increasing number that did not sit well with him. His tail began to thump upon the ground.

What was this talk of dancing? It was interesting, might be some fun. He could dance... but probably not in the way that was implied. Rill sighed dejectedly. What a waste; forced to learn those talents and not being able to apply them now, when he was free.

Rill rose from his spot in the dirt, brushed himself off, and spared a moment to fantasize about a hot bath. Striding forward with his predatory grace, Rill left the company of Sai and Ninoa with an air of great disdain.

Barely noticing Tim's impromptu quip, Lina's doppelganger just stared at the talking statue, looking shocked. A dance? Of all the things that it could've asked, why ask us to do this... this... Hoofy-Crawler-Trot? Or whatever it's called?

Her musings were cut short by the rapid arrival of the real Lina, dragging a hapless Gourry behind her. Following not far behind were a somewhat flustered looking Filia, and that big redheaded guy who kept losing his pants. With their arrival, the gathering of random heroes and bizarre characters around the statue was finally complete.

The sight of the infamous sorceress made the redheaded girl shiver. The fact that said infamous sorceress didn't seem all that pleased made her shiver even more. She steeled herself, however. I've held out this long; I can manage a few more minutes!

The real Lina, after catching her breath, finally noticed a face she hadn't been expecting to see down here. She waved and let out a "Hey Zel! Nice to see you!" before sitting down. He didn't say anything, though; his attention seemed to be mainly focused on that weird statue set in the wall. What's so great about that statue? she wondered idly. Does it have something to do with finding a way out?

Before the latest arrivals could add even more confusion to the proceedings, Copy-Lina spoke up, hoping to get at least some answers before committing herself to anything. "What IS this... Hoofer-Hoppe-Crawlie-Trot? Is it anything like line-dancing?" That was the only form of dance she'd ever been exposed to in her admittedly short lifetime. She rather hoped so; she was good at line-dancing. Well... at least, she hadn't caused large-scale property damage with her dancing. Quite.

A bewildered Ren stepped forward, scratching his head. "Yeah... line-dancing... uhm... what's that? And where's a line we can use?"

Filia looked about, adding to the confusion. "D-Dance," she sputtered, backing up a bit, and halfway reaching for her mace. "This is silly. Why dance at a time like this?!" Her eyes traveled around the gathering; well, it could be worse, right? She stood there, a pout on her lips. "Let's just hurry, please."

Lina cringed inwardly as her double mentioned... 'the dance'. An evil grin spread over the sorceress's face as she realized the other girl didn't even know of it! "Oh, um... Other Lina, I think you would be PERFECT for dancing the Hoofer-Hoppe-Crawlie-Trot! I mean... look at you!" She had a look of pure joy on her face. The other girl did look good, no doubt about that, since she looked just like herself!

"Um... really?" said the redhead, extremely confused by now. "You think?" She was a little flattered at first. Then she thought about it some more. The idea of dancing solo in front of a large group of, if not friends then at least allies, wasn't exactly her idea of a fun time. "But only if I get to choose a partner!"

She didn't know if the Hoofer-Hoppe-Crawlie-Trot was the kind of dance that required a partner or not. And frankly, she didn't care. "Hey, mister crossbow man, guess what? I choose YOU!" With a savage glint in her eye, she dashed forward to share the embarrassment with the guy who'd been tormenting her all afternoon. For his part, Eric attempted to squirm out of her clutches, wide- eyed, with all the haste he could muster. "Somebody hurry up an' teach me the dance so we can get OUT of here!"

"Ah-ah-ah!" said the statue. Its smooth arms were folded across its bare marble chest, and the look on its carven face was indescribably smug. "Just one couple performing the dance won't cut it." Its triumphant gaze swept the assembled throng. "I meant that EVERYONE has to dance for me!"

"GAH!" cried Lina, falling over. "You mean we ALL have to do this stupid dance?" she almost screamed, annoyed. (The fact that the statue in front of her was suddenly talking didn't faze her one bit.) "WHY ARE WE EVEN DOING THIS?!" Her fists were clenched. Looking at Gourry, she had to sweatdrop. "Go in my place?" she asked plaintively.

Vrumugun thought about it for a minute. Dance, or stay... dance, or stay.... Then he spoke up. Turning to the rest of the group, he asked the question that no one wanted to hear. "Do we really have a choice?"

Constance was utterly confused. Not only did she not know how to do the dance, she had never heard of it to her knowledge, either.... "Allen," she whispered in a confidential tone, "do you know what this 'dance' is?"

Allen looked at Constance with a serious, level gaze. "Despite its rather silly sounding name, it's forbidden, and there's a good reason for it being so, too. That's all you need to know." When he saw that Constance wasn't buying this, he continued by saying, "Look, whatever you do, just don't agree to do it... get out of it any way you can."

The statue drew back in surprise listening to the coversations. Who are these people? Not only have they heard of it, they're actually familiar with it?!? Regaining its composure, it smiled evilly again. "The Northern Ice Skidder version," it pronounced, picking a sect so secret and unknown that nothing but rumors was actually known about it.

Arcius nodded determinedly. "Very well." And the bard turned and promptly began describing it to the others.

The statue nearly fell off of its pedestal. Very well, then. It smirked smugly. Even if he could not play with the fabric sampler, he would have fun with the others.

Constance knew that Allen was serious when he told her to avoid the dance, but then she heard that everyone had to do it. "Oh, great," she groaned. Then came the description of the dance. "Oh my...."

Zelgadis merely folded his arms, standing off to the side in the classic 'Zel-absolutely-isn't-going-to-make-a-fool-of-himself'(tm) posture. He glanced from one Lina to the other, then smirked as the dance was described. "I think you know what I have to say about this already."

Vrumugun looked evenly at Zelgadis. It was his first run-in with the chimera, and yet, something about him was strangely familiar. He dismissed it, deciding to ask about it later. Turning to the stone-skinned man, he said, "So you intend to die down here? I know I certainly can't force you, but SHE can," he said, motioning towards Lina. "Especially when she realizes there's NO FOOD DOWN HERE." He said the last rather more loudly than necessary. He might have been an amnesiac, but he certainly caught on quickly....

Listening to the description of the dance, "...Hop on your left foot...," Ren decided to choose out a partner before all the good ones were gone. Eyeing Filia, he grinned evilly.

Filia looked arond very nervously. Her eyes landed on Ren. W-Why was he staring at her like that...?! Maybe - Maybe I should back away and hide? she thought. But there was no escape.

Tim looked at the statue, trying to suppress a smirk. The statue didn't like that much. "Okay," Tim nodded, considering the Northern Ice Skidder version of the dance. "That does help. But... I need to know exactly when the particular dance you want originated. I mean, there are subtle differences between the dance moves formed by the Skidders during The War of The Monsters Fallen, The Fall of The Sorceror Kings, The Return of Shabranigdo, and the present day. I wouldn't want to offend you, so could you be more specific?"

"Why, the original version, of course!" said the statue, as if insulted. "As developed by Skidders founder Jorge Pinatubo and his mistress... I believe her name was...."

"Ellora de Wichita," Tim supplied helpfully.

The statue sweatdropped. "Right." It watched, somewhat perturbed, as the grey-clad young man went on to suggest slight yet precise modifications in foot placement to the assembled throng.

Somehow managing to completely ignore the impromptu dance session being reluctantly arranged not ten feet away from him, Sai looked at Ninoa and raised his eyebrow. Something gave him a funny feeling; he knew something bad was going to happen, but didn't want to say anything about it. Instead he asked something which had been bothering him for a while now, the expression on his face turning suddenly serious. "Ninoa, I've been wondering... will you please tell me how you become one with the monster race?"

Ninoa twiddled her thumbs for a moment and then turned her attention to Sai. "Well, the thing is, I've always been a Mazoku. It hasn't changed over the period of my life. And that's been a long while." She stood up and looked at Sai intently. "Do you care to hear about my upbringing?"

Sai sat down. "Well, it doesn't seem we will be going anywhere anytime soon." He sighed and looked down at the ground, then back at Ninoa. "Sure; let's hear it."

Ninoa cleared her throat and started her story. "The first thing you may want to know is that I grew up under an adoptive parent. Left on the doorstep of a church, I was taken in by the high priest there. Considering my innocence at the time, he didn't suspect me of being anything other than an ordinary little girl, and treated me like his own daughter. I was raised in the church and trained to be a Holy Priestess. I was actually quite good at it, and was ready to inherit the title of High Priestess after father had stepped down... that was, until that one day.

"As I was out enjoying a walk in the wilderness, a Mazoku attacked me. While my skills weren't honed, I still managed to defeat it with my holy magic. But something troubled me as it spoke with its dying breath. It said, 'Why have you betrayed us...?' That quote echoed in my mind and my father's as he witnessed the Mazoku's death from afar."

Tears formed in her eyes. "It was then that he suspected my being something... other than human. Soon after that, he found out my secret. My true being. He had no choice but to exile me from the church and the surrounding lands, and so I began my life as a wanderer. That was over 700 years ago." Ninoa sighed as she remembered the past.

Sai folded his arms and turned his head to the side. "I see you have been through a lot." His face turned COLD when he remembered his own past. Sai shuddered a little, then looked back at Ninoa and Rill... but the strange tailed boy had already left. When had he...? Oh, never mind. "Perhaps we'd better get back to the others," Sai said in a cold voice, not wanting to think about the past, anyone's past, any longer.

Geltro looked around the scene that presented itself to him. With growing horror, he realized that these people were ACTUALLY GOING ALONG WITH IT. Except for the couple of people sitting quietly apart from the others and ignoring all the commotion in favour of their own inane conversation, that is.

Geltro shared a long-suffering 'Why Me?' look with Zelgadis, then dusted his hands, tightened his belt, and marched firmly and angrily towards the statue.

In a very quiet, very calm voice, Geltro addressed the statue. "You have a very short moment to give me a very good reason why we should do this dance instead of using Spirit magic to horribly torture the force animating you." The small, dirty, quiet boy gazing up threateningly at the statue was not nearly as impressive as he was trying to be.

A massive bolt of lightning suddenly struck the ground right in front of where Sai was sitting. Everyone in the group whirled around, sword in hand, spell on tongue, or both. When the smoke cleared, Sai was flattened against a wall, where he had instinctively sprang back. His gog-eyed look was very much like a deer caught in headlights.

The statue smirked. "Probably because you can't do enough to me before the city defenses destroy you." It chuckled. "Looks like it's just warming up. That was a pretty pathetic bolt."

Reaching behind its back, it gave Geltro a thumbs up with its free hand. "Don't worry, boy. I like you. You can accompany the lutist," it held out the other hand, "by playing these drums!" It held out a small set of bongo drums and smiled benignly.

Geltro looked at the drums. Then he looked at the scorched patch of ground next to the alarmed Sai. There was a pause.

Then Geltro grabbed the bongos. "It's better than dancing." The thief sat where he was and began to beat out a steady tattoo. Soon he started in on some variations of the beat; drumming with his fingers, then the heels of his hands, and occasionally striking the sides of the bongos for a different sound. He was getting pretty good at this. Ignoring the nonsense around him, Geltro began to bop his head up and down in time with the rhythm.

"This is gonna be interesting," said Oni. Thorn nodded in agreement as they watched the group on the other side of the barrier prepare for the dance.

"Huh?" said Froard. "I don't get it."

Oni's hand came crashing down on top of one of the changeling's many heads. "That's 'cause you're a meathead, you...." Oni stopped in mid-sentence.

"What?" asked Froard in confusion.

"Someone's coming," Oni replied.

"Where?" said the changeling, spinning around and baring his canine fangs.

"Not out here, you fool; in there." Oni sniffed the air, and slapped his forehead. "Great! Just great! He had to show up, didn't he?"

"Who's here?" asked Froard.

"Let's go!" said Oni, pointing as he stormed down the side of the barrier.

"Where are we going?" the changeling.

"We are gonna find the exit!" Oni replied.

"But why would we want to find the exit? We don't want to escape, we just want to...."

"SHUT UP! We're gonna find the exit so we can get in there, grab the Saber, and stop our little friend from getting in the way!" Oni grabbed the three-headed dog by one of its necks and dragged it along the ground. "You coming, Thorn?"

Casting one last glance at the assembled group, Thorn turned and made her way after Oni. "Yes."

The marble boy watched the people gathered around it as they practiced dance moves, tapped out rhythms, or argued vehemently about minor variations in dance structure, all the while trying to ignore the ever-increasing winds and the sound of lightning striking various places around the underground city. A wide grin seemed almost to split its carven face in two. This was turning out to be a lot of fun! And they were all being such good sports about it, too. What more could a statue ask for?

Finally the carven being pulled a paper bag out of nowhere and blew into it until it was full of air. Then, holding the bag in one hand, it clapped hard with the other, producing a loud and rather unexpected *Bang!* Everyone jumped in unison.

Now that it had everyone's undivided attention, the statue leaned casually back in its little nook in the cliff face and asked, "Has everyone found a partner?"

Zelgadis tried to turn his back to the proceedings in aloof disdain, but found himself securely in the grasp of that strange purple-scaled boy from before. With a dreamy smile on his lips, Rill purred and said in a low voice, "Shall we dance?"

Lina growled under her breath and hauled Gourry into dancing position. Meanwhile, Copy-Lina maintained her death-grip on a helplessly struggling Eric.

Kerrem looked around and wondered, not for the first time, where Lyssa had gone. Zangulus, too, was looking around the group, with something akin to panic. Sai and Ninoa had paired up, as had Filia and Ren, Jin and Constance, and Tim and Briar Rose. That didn't leave a lot of choices for either the young swordsman or the wielder of the Howling Sword. With nervous looks on both their faces, the two men turned, saw each other, sweatdropped, and sighed in resignation.

As Geltro steadily thumped away on his bongo drums, and Arcius tuned up his lute, the statue clapped its marble hands in delight. "Everyone's ready? Then let's get started! If Sir Lutist would begin...? Okay! Three, two, one! Let's JAM!"

Geltro reluctantly stopped improvising (he was really getting into the whole freeform drumming thing) and began tapping out the even rhythm for the dance, as he had been instructed. He still watched the speaking statue, however, being one never to let his guard down.

Like most of the other people present, Briar had heard of the dance. Unlike most of the the others, Briar knew why it was forbidden.

The dance had originated among the primitive people in the lands of old. It was a combination worship service, fetish enactor, and an uncivilized way of bowing and scraping to whomever was in charge. In other words, civilized folk banned it saying it was uncivilized. That was the 'official' reason.

The real reason was because it was incredibly, incredibly lame looking.

But since everyone else was getting into the swing of things, Briar decided she might as well add her own touches to it. A quick wiggle of her fingers, and suddenly, everyone was dressed the part.

The full costume for this particular variation of the dance had many elements of the northern climate it had originated in. It looked like a bizarre cross between a number of things: the body was furry, like a white chia pet; two pine branches jutted from the sided of everyone's head, much like a rack of elk antlers; their legs were sacked together in what might be a fish or a mermaid's tail, only instead of fins, they had a pair of webbed feet, like a duck or penguin.

That being done, Briar fell into step with Tim.

Sai sweatdropped as he was pulled into the dance by Ninoa. "Um... I don't know how to dance." Sai kind of blushed. He was scared that he would look like a fool in frout of all the others. "Um.... How about I just sit this one out, Ninoa?" Sai lowered his head, not wanting to show how red his face had gotten.

Ninoa shot Sai an angry look and bellowed, "DANCE!" She then proceeded to grab him by the collar and dragged him to the front. Looking a little happier, Ninoa then said to him, "I'll help you, if you want."

Sai gave a faint laugh. "Well... I...." He figured it was useless to argue. "Well, alright... but you are going to have to help me a lot." He sweatdropped - and blushed - yet again. "Um... could you show me what to do?"

Zelgadis, for his part, tried to dodge, shove, pry and otherwise keep away from Rill while screaming, "No! No! I absolutely won't! Forget it!"

Vrumugun remained in hiding, glad for once that no one had noticed him. He watched the others dance, ready to swoop out when it was all over. Unlike Zelgadis, he had no qualms about hiding to avoid this kind of humiliation.

Gourry, upon hearing the word 'dance', had shrunk up against the wall. He hated dancing. It's not that he wasn't good at it; far from it, actually. Part of his swords training had involved dancing. It was supposed to make him move easier, or something like that. He used to go to dances on occasion, and for some odd reason, all the girls always wanted to dance with him.

Despite the fact that he was good, he hated dancing. He wasn't exactly sure why, either. Something tragic had probably happened to him awhile back (or possibly even recently, knowing Gourry's memory) that involved dancing, and he just couldn't remember it. He shrunk into a ball next to the wall, hoping that in spite of his bright blond hair that no one would see him.

"You can't see me, you can't see me...," he whispered over and over, not even realizing that he was saying it aloud.

Lina put her hands on her hips, pouting at Gourry. "Damn you! Get up! I need someone to dance with, and it's not gonna be with someone I don't know!" And with that she yanked his wrist, pulling him up to be her partner.

"B-but, Lina-san... I... I don't like dancing." Gourry turned several shades of red, which contrasted nicely with his pale blond hair. "Why would you wanna dance with me anyway? Why don't you make someone else do it?"

"'Cuz I know you, Gourry. Now come on!" Lina also was blushing, though faintly, as she pulled him into the mist of people. "You're supposed to be my protector, right? Then protect me as we dance!" She then crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

Gourry started to hesitate, until she pointed out that he was indeed her guardian. He groaned. He was most definitely stuck dancing. Stupid guardianship. He gave a sidelong glance over to Lina, and decided that it was worth it. Her bright red hair; those beautiful, shining eyes that lit up when she smiled....

He shook his head and stood, offering her his hand. She accepted it gingerly, and he swung her onto the dance floor. Well, cavern floor. All of a sudden, it was as if he was back in training. His feet and body took over, tapping and swinging to the beat as if they had a mind of their own. His mind shifted gears, and he was no longer the brain-dead, incompetent Gourry everyone knew him as. There were two things he excelled at; swordfighting and dancing. He just preferred to keep the latter a secret.

He looked up at Lina, who was staring at him in shock. He grinned to himself. At LAST, he'd done something that shocked her. In a good way, that is. He was always amazing her in how stupid and naive he was, but at last he was able to do something well. If only he could hear what she was thinking about him in this moment. If only....

Lina's eyes widened at her partner as he pulled her out along with the others. It was amazing how such a jelly-fish-for-brains could be so freakin' graceful! Her mouth was wide open. She couldn't help it. Her face said it all; she was shocked. Gourry seemed to smile at her... and she seemed to melt... until.... Wait! This was gonna make her look bad! All of a sudden her crimson eyes filled with determination as she danced the best she could. No one was going to show her up!

For a scant second, Gourry saw something that could have been awe pass over Lina's face. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened slightly. Gourry could even swear he saw her cheeks flush a bit. Then, the old Lina took over, determination washing over her with that confident smirk she always wore.

Gourry grinned. She'd started dancing faster, trying to surpass him in skill and speed. Turning this into a competition, ne? Just like you, Lina-san, he thought to himself. He moved nimbly, arms and hips moving to the rhythm and beat of the music, then smirked down at Lina. "Lina-san, this is the one thing you can't beat me at."

Lina blinked, almost falling over. Can't bea- He'd figured her out?! Her face flushed briefly, then she smiled. "Gourry, I wouldn't be so sure about that!" She grinned, her red hair flying over her face in soft whispers as she twirled. She tried holding it back, but finally a small giggle escaped her lips. Her cheeks were fully blushing now, as it was her first dance with a guy.... Her first dance with a guy! She slowed down a bit, staring up at him, as she realized this revelation.

At Lina's giggle, Gourry looked down. It was NOT a typical Lina laugh. Lina's laugh was more like a sinister, evil chuckle. The one that warned you that if you were in her way, close to in her way, or if she just felt like beating the crap out of you, you were in big trouble. This laugh was almost... feminine. He looked down at her flushed cheeks and had to take a moment to catch his breath.

A split second later, she started to slow down. It was not like Lina to give up, either, especially not on an open challenge. He slowed to match her pace unconsciously, as he had been trained to do so many years ago.

He looked at Lina carefully, a frown slowly creasing his brow. Her face was completely red, and she had been slowing down... could she have gotten sick? Maybe I pushed her too hard... I shouldn't have challenged her like that... because of me, she's going to get sick! Alarm raced through the blond's head. "Are you okay, Lina?" he asked quickly but quietly, so no one other than Lina could hear him. "Your dancing slowed, and your face is all red. Are you tired? Do you need to go lay down?"

Lina almost facefaulted. "G-Gourry, I'm alright!" she told him, smiling as nicely as she could. She looked to their feet, trying not to step on any toes. He had... nice boots. "Gourry...," she said softly, realizing a person like herself shouldn't be so shy. She was almost acting like... like... Shilfiel! Her eyes met his, and she stopped breathing. They were a baby blue, and as innocent and beautiful as ever. Her grip tightened on him, if only a little, bringing her courage up. "Gourry, why.... Why do you always want to stay with me? I know you say you protect me, but...." Her giggle turned into nervous laughter. "I know I must be annoying, so if that's the only reason...." Curiosity was in her eyes, as well as a burning passion.

Gourry's expression sobered. He'd often thought about this himself. It was quite obvious to him that Lina didn't need his protection. Hell, if anything he was most likely a burden to her. But still... he never wanted to leave her. And he couldn't quite understand why.

"I'm not sure, Lina," he said quietly, finding the tips of his boots quite interesting. "I just know that I don't want to go away. Those times when you almost died, or went away... I was sad. It made me hurt. I don't want to hurt like that anymore. All I know is that when I'm with you, the hurt isn't there. So... I'll stay with you forever." He could feel heat rushing to his cheeks. Where did all THAT come from? I almost sounded smooth, he thought to himself. But... it's true. All that I said was true.... Gourry couldn't help but wince. He knew that Lina was going to yell at him and hit him for acting weird, but he didn't really mind. At least now he knew why he followed Lina around, as did she. And to Gourry, that made it worth it.

Filia stared at Ren, wondering when he would begin. Weren't they supposed to be dancing? Of course, she didn't want to start them off. HE had asked her to dance, after all. She walked a bit closer to the tall redhead; maybe it would give him the hint that they should start. Oh boy.... And Lina thought SHE had a guy with a few screws loose....

Ren, for his part, blanched when he saw Gourry exhibiting a rare show of competence. "Hrm...." He shook his head. He wouldn't let dirt for brains show him up! Stepping towards Filia, he offered his hand. "Shall we then?"

Filia blushed slightly as she was pulled into the dance. Her blond hair fell out of place and around her as he swung her to the rhythm of the song. Why was her heart beating? He did have the silliest face as he danced.... She then began to giggle. Maybe it was the costumes... or maybe she was going insane.

After several mischievous, yet utterly failed attempts to keep Zelgadis in one spot and get a hold of him, Rill crossed his arms, pouted childishly, and suddenly dropped to the ground, sitting cross-legged while thumping his tail upon the dirt. He was there for only a moment before springing up again and quickly wrapping himself around Zelgadis in that unique serpentine manner of his. Arms around the chimaera's neck, legs around his waist with ankles locked behind, and that purple tail coiling down a leg. The tip of it beat softly against the beige material.

Rill smiled with triumph, making quite sure to fasten himself quite securely to his favorite little exuberant stone. The toothy and laughing grin abruptly became semi-serious (the slitted eyes insisted upon dancing with merriment). One hand bunched itself up in Zelgadis' hood, while the other held a finger to his lips. "Now you hush up, Pretty Jewel," he said quietly and merrily. "This may be our only way to escape this horrid cave: comply with the other stone-boy's whims." Rill took a moment to look around at the others already dancing. He was impressed by the blond's skills, but was otherwise quite bored and exasperated. "Look, this is harmless and painless. If it was permitted, I'd take some liberties to spice this little performance up." For a second his eyes twinkled impishly. "But I'll stick to this dry excuse of a dance... just for this once. So why do you have to act like I'm about to perform some sort of heinous act upon your person! Am I really so bad?"

Zelgadis gritted his teeth and, scowling, started to dance with Rill. In a jerky, abrupt, and none-too-pleased manner. The chimaera could just feel the others laughing at him behind his back. Answering Rill's question, he quietly grated, "Yes. You really are that bad. Once we're out of here, you'd be wise to stay well out of my way."

Rill only smiled, shook his head, and sighed. He released his snaky hold, dancing properly with his chimaera. Again he sighed, but at least he had Zelgadis dancing with him, even if.... "Just because you look like a rock, doesn't mean you have to dance like one as well."

As everyone got into the swing of the dance, everything seemed to take on a pattern....

Geltro drummed on as the dance progressed, keeping the beat as he had been instructed, and counting. Now, as the dance approached its end, he increased the tempo and volume of his drumming, guiding the dance to its climax.

Arcius' fingers danced nimbly over the lute. His serious expression betrayed none of his thoughts. Inwardly, as he watched the group twist, gyrate, and step in the the dance, a thought played in his mind.

The members of this group looked remarkably, ridiculously, insanely ludicrous. The authentic-looking costumes only added to the effect.

The bard was happy, so remarkably overjoyed that he had led this group here and allowed them to participate in this activity that would allow them to be less stagnant in word and deed. Especially with an illusionist in the group, the potential for blackmail was astronomical!

None of this was shown on his face; he brought the dance to a close with a flourish.

To Geltro, Arcius nodded. "A most excellent performance, Lord... m'Lord. You could have a future in performance if you try to develop your skill."

Ignoring how Geltro's face went apoplexic at being titled so, Arcius turned to the statue.

As the group gathered quietly around it, waiting for its reaction to their dance, the statue was unabashedly laughing. Only being stuck to its pedestal kept it from rolling on the ground. In fact, its laughter was the only sound in the city, save the wind.

"That was great!" it managed between guffaws. "If only you could have seen yourselves!" It straightened, wiping stone tears from its cheeks. "I can't believe you actually did that."

Arcius bowed slightly. "The exit, Lord Statue?"

It waved a hand negligently off to one side. "That alcove over there. If only there were more time! I'd have you guys do another one! There's a hidden door there."

Arcius nodded. "Thank you, Lord Statue." He turned back to the group. In his best leader voice, he said, "Let us begone from this place."

Now that the ordeal was over, Tim bowed to his lovely partner, Briar. Then the young Collector proceeded to walk out of the catacombs, pausing only to put his hat firmly over the statue's eyes.

Seeing that the exit was finally open, Vrumugun decided to teleport directly to it. If that statue saw him, it was trouble (he'd been hiding while the others danced, remember?), and teleporting offered him his best chance at stealth. So thinking, he vanished, and reappeared at the exit.

Geltro shrugged silently, and moved towards the exit. He was well satisfied that he hadn't needed to dance. And that whole drumming thing had been kind of... fun.... sort of. Not as fun as stealing from people and making them look stupid, of course. Nope, couldn't be... nope. I mean it.

As they approached the exit, Geltro discreetly looked at Arcius, and fingered something he'd concealed in his cloak.

Lina was about to respond to Gourry, blushing brightly, until the words "We can leave" were said. She looked at Gourry with her usual cocky grin, successfully hiding her pleasure in hearing such things from him. Not letting go of one of his hands, she began to pull him across to the alcove. She NEEDED to get out of here. "We can go now, so let's!" she told Gourry in a bright Lina-ish voice, not looking at him. But if anyone could see straight into Lina's crimson eyes, they couldn't help but notice the happiness within. The smile said it all. Of course, Gourry saw none of this, not getting an answer, because, well, she didn't look behind her. Her grip on his hand tightened, but not to the point of it hurting.

Copy-Lina stood alone in the empty city. Everyone else had already filed through the exit door in the nearby alcove (how on earth had they all missed THAT? There was even a red-blinking sign reading 'EXIT' above it). Just before stepping through the door herself, she was seized by an irresistible urge, so she turned back and spoke to the still-snickering statue. "Lemme get this straight. The green energy-bubble around the city... there's a hole in it right here for the door to pass through?"

"Yeah, something like that," answered the statue with a cocky grin, pushing Tim's hat back on its head.

"And it's always open?"

"Well, anyone can get into the city, if they know what to say. If ya know what I mean." He winked.

"So do lots of people come and visit?"

The marble boy was silent for a few seconds. But the door didn't look like it was going away anytime soon, and the lightning bolts weren't yet severe enough to drive her out of the city, so she waited patiently for him to answer.

"No," he said finally, and it was odd, but his smooth stone face somehow seemed overlaid by a dark shadow. "No, I wouldn't say that lots of people come to visit."

"How many, then? A few dozen?" She pressed on in her quest for knowledge. Heck, this was probably her last chance to learn more about this fascinating city, so she'd take advantage of it while she could.

All mirth was gone from the marble face. "Well, let's just say that you guys are the first outsiders I've seen for the past few centuries."

She gaped. "Centuries?"

"Yeah. Tell me about it."

"But don't you get bored?" she said, wide-eyed.

At that, he began to laugh strangely, almost humourlessly. "There used to be people passing through here pretty regularly. You know, adventurers, sorcerors, people in search of a quiet place to meditate. But I guess, over time, the knowledge was lost, or the maps crumbled or... something. You know, I'm not supposed to let anyone out once the defenses go down," he said suddenly. "But I was just hoping that... that if I let you guys go -- especially that bard, you know how bards are with telling stories -- that I might actually start getting company down here once again."

Copy-Lina began to regard the statue-boy in a new light, which was helped considerably by the electric crackle that abruptly filled the air around them both. "You're lonely, aren't you!" she exclaimed. "And you can't leave or anything...." She considered the pedestal on which he was standing, and to which his feet seemed to be fixed. "No, you're pretty much stuck here. Why's that? Were you made this way, or something?" The ways of talking statues were still a mystery to her.

"Made this way?" he said, seeming to consider something. "Well, no... I...." Then he turned back to her, the merest shadow of a smile on his marble face. Somehow the overall effect managed to be far more sad than happy. "Let's just say I have a lot to... atone for, and leave it at that, okay?"

"...Okay," the girl agreed. Suddenly not wanting to learn anymore, she turned her back on the marble boy and jogged through the exit door.

Once all members of the group were long gone, the statue, its face expressionless and calm once more, made a gesture. The energy barrier around the underground city was restored, and the exit disappeared as if it had never been. The city was sealed away from the outside world once more. Sealed away -- but for how long?

Who knows?

Gourry let himself be dragged along by Lina, enjoying the fact that he was still able to hold her hand. She must've forgot I'm holding her hand, he thought. Otherwise she would've already pulled away. But he wasn't about to remind her. That'd be... well, stupid. Sort of a redundant statement for Gourry, but on with the story.

He wished he could've seen Lina's face, right after he said what he did. He wasn't sure what to expect now. He didn't get hit, so that was a good thing. But was not saying anything a sign of rejection? Embarassment? All he could do now was follow Lina, just like always, and protect her the best he knew how.

Lina glared a little, then turned back and swiftly hit Gourry in the head. "Move faster!" she said in an irritated tone of voice.

Gourry grinned, relieved that Lina wasn't sad anymore. "Hai, Lina-san!" He thought (yes, THOUGHT) about that for a moment. Should he just call her Lina? Or was Lina-san appropriate? Or could he even call her Lina-chan? They'd known each other for years now, after all.... His tiny brain started to ache from all the strain put upon it by his previous deep thoughts, so he left it at Lina-san.

He blinked intelligently, then stopped, dragging Lina to a halt as well, seeing as they were still holding hands. "Ne, Lina-san, where exactly are we going?"

Lina blinked herself, then realized she still had Gourry's hand clutched in hers. Blushing, she quickly pulled away, and looked up to him with a red face to match her hair. "Ne, Gourry, you'll only forget again in a minute," she said, sounding half annoyed. "But we're going... THAT way!" she exclaimed, pointing down the exit corridor. The truth of it was... she was simply following the others. She sweatdropped. Automatically taking his wrist, she began to pull him again, for she didn't know how else to shut the poor boy up. As they walked, Lina in front, she whispered to herself, so low she hardly heard her own voice. "Still 'Lina-san', huh?"

Gourry felt himself be tugged along behind Lina in the direction dictated by her gloved finger, really just following everyone else. Since being dragged by Lina required him to concentrate on not falling or losing his balance, he was quiet for the majority of the short flight.

But then, another thought came. He tried to shove it in the back of his head, seeing as he didn't have much room for thoughts in his head right now, and all his previous thoughts had just made Lina upset. But persistent as the thought was, it wouldn't go away.

He was going to ignore it again, until his extraordinarily good hearing picked up Lina's whispered words. His cheeks flushed slighly without really knowing why, and he suddenly had the urge to say something. Anything. And the only thing he could think of was the thought he'd been trying to get rid of.

"Ne, Lina-chan, why is it that everyone else that was dancing is suddenly running in that direction too? I don't understand, Lina-chan...."

He knew he was going to get hit the moment the words left his mouth. He didn't even know what the thought was until he'd said it, and it sounded stupid, even to him. But he got a chance to amend his first suffix for Lina's name, and that was the point to him talking, wasn't it?

Lina's face flushed, then blinked. Lina-chan?! Quickly she hit him, hiding her embarassment. "Everyone's leaving because we found a way out! And don't call me Lina-chan; I'm not a child!" She pulled him along faster now, passing by some of the others and casting them evil glares just in case they dared to try and say anything to tease her in this state.

Soon they'd passed everyone else and were in the lead. "Gourry," she said slowly, then stopped and faced him. This confused him, she could tell. "I... don't mind if you... if you're with me forever, 'cause, well.... That's where you belong, jellyfish-for-brains!" With that, she ran like bloody hell. Crap! she thought, right after the words came out from her lips. This is what I get for playing tomboy and saying NO to my girlish side! She felt her face turn scarlet and her legs turn to jelly. She couldn't face him now! "Damnit!" she cried, knowing that problems like these were for youngsters, not seasoned sorceresses like herself... it was embarassing!

Ninoa was smitten by Sai. He was an okay dancer, much better than he had let on. With a little training, he could be quite good. Well, maybe not as good as Gourry, but....

She then realized that Lina and Gourry were ahead of the rest of the group. She also noticed that Lina had turned a nice shade of red. Somewhat like her hair. So, being the curious individual she was, Ninoa popped forward to the two and assessed the situation.

"Are you and Gourry a couple, Lina?" Ninoa asked with childish intent. She gave a mischievous smile while waiting for a reply.

"Gah!" cried Lina, smacking Ninoa and sending her flying.

Ninoa went soaring... and soaring... until... she smacked into the back of one Ren. As she dusted herself off, she smiled. "I guess she's embarassed."

Sai was in shock. He ran to Ninoa. "Are you okay?" He looked her over. "Of course you are... how dumb of me."

Ninoa rubbed her head and smiled. "Um, thanks, Sai-kun." She blushed slightly and turned away with a smile. "He cares for me...."

Not having heard, or at least pretending that he hadn't heard, Sai looked over at Lina. "It would appear she didn't like hearing that at all. Wonder when she will admit it. People can be so stubborn."

Lina herself was feeling somewhat frustrated, and quite a bit embarassed. Was it true or not? Crap! She felt like all the world was looking at her. Shyly she stalked herself a little ahead, then... just stood there, looking back at Gourry with a blush and a smile. Did she...? Shaking her head, she laughed to herself. She was the dragon spooker, the Dramatta! That couldn't ever happen! Her eyes trembled. It couldn't....

Gourry watched all that had occured with a certain curiosity. His heart was still pounding from when she had told him in essence that she didn't mind him tagging along, and being noted as a couple. Now, Gourry didn't know much, but he did know what a couple was, and he was pleased that people saw them as such, even if they weren't officially a 'couple.'

A phrase Lina had stated earlier floated back into his head. 'Don't call me Chan! I'm not a child!' He frowned at that. Now that's not what he'd meant at all. "I know you're not a child," he murmured. "That's not why I called you that."

The group finally stumbled out of the labyrinthine cave that linked the underground city to the surface. The morning sun was shining brightly on a smooth layer of new-fallen snow. Between dawn and the brightness of the snow, everyone stood quietly, getting used to daylight again.

Once everyone's eyes adjusted, a new problem arose. The depths of the cavernous city had been rather warm, warm enough for normal clothing. Out here, it was cold enough for snow to stick around, and the breeze promised more. Immediately there was a flurry of activity in the group as everyone sought to warm themselves, whether by spell, extra clothing, or snuggling (much to Rill's delight and Zelgadis' ire).

Once safely outside the city of terrible doom (tm), Geltro marched up to Arcius and bowed stiffly.

"I usually rely on no-one but myself. However, I realize that if it wasn't for your knowledge of the dance and masterful lute playing, I would probably be dead right now."

Geltro fidgeted.

"This is really hard for me, but...." Geltro rummaged in his pockets. "This is a token of my gratitude."

With a flourish, Geltro drew forth and presented Arcius with...

Ye gods what IS that?

Before all was the single ugliest piece of jewellery any of them had ever seen. Zangulus immediately recognized it as a 'holy relic of Zoamelgustar' that Martina had thrown together as a craft project that mysteriously disappeared one day. Gaudy beyond belief, it appeared to be a mayoral chain somebody had haphazardly attached other bits and pieces to. An appraiser's nightmare, it combined 24-carat gold and priceless gems with painted tin, paste gems and glass. There were bits of it held on with twists of wire and glue. The thing must have wieghed eight kilograms and in bright sunlight the glare off it could stun a man at twenty paces.

This monstrosity was presented to Arcius with the greatest of solemnity.

Constance caught a bright glint of something shiny out of the corner of her eye. Seeing that it came from Geltro's direction, she went over to investigate.

When she got up to where the boy and the bard were standing and saw what was gleaming, she gasped in disgust. "What the hell IS that?!"

Both Arcius and Geltro looked up at her in shock and surprise; they hadn't known she was there, and for Constance to use the word "hell" in that context was extremley weird.

"Eh... heh heh... I'm sorry, really. I guess it's none of my business...," she said with a blush, then turned away.

Arcius stared at Constance, quite stunned by her rudeness. "Lady Constance! Surely you are not talking about this?" He held up the talisman reverently. "It is magnificent!" he whispered breathlessly. Quickly, he scanned his outfit and pinned it to his heavy overcloak (where, surprisingly enough, it clashed the most with his gaudy garb). "Thank you, young Sir. But without your excellent rhythms, the performance would have been far less. When we reach a stopping place, by all means, finish your request of me."

He turned and looked over the group. "Lords, Ladies!" His voice was measured to catch their attention. "I would like to offer a suggestion, if I may. As you can see, going back into Kytares is probably not an option." He pointed to their right.

Indeed, dark smoke drifted lazily from numerous parts of the city. A good section of the walls was rubble, along with entire areas of the city.

"I suggest that we take our leave of this region and travel to warmer climes. There, we can discuss at length and come to a resolution to any issues there might be among us." His gaze swept across the group, lingering on the Linas. "Do any of you know any means of mass transport?"

Briar stood next to Tim, adopting the 'snuggle-to-keep-warm' strategy. Beneath her smile, she was not happy. For one, she had somehow lost the control she'd had over the group, and worse, it seemed that the bard was gaining it. Unfortunately, Arcius had the right of it all; getting out of the cold was priority number one. The other thing bugging her was that her 'charge' had grown quite heavy as they had wandered through the cave. He wasn't that heavy, but he certainly was awkward to lug around like that.

Mostly, she figured a warm bath would fix most of the problems.

Geltro took the opportunity presented by Arcius drawing attention to himself. Concealing himself in the crowd, Geltro took up a position where he could observe Briar Rose discreetly. There was something suspicious about her, and if he could only figure out what....

Lina sighed. Mass transport? That was one thing she couldn't do. Shivering, she pulled her arms over each other, trying to get warm. She glanced sidelong at Gourry before speaking. "I dunno. Whatever gets us outta the cold!" she cried with chattering teeth. She rubbed her arms before sighing, and suddenly thought of something unexpected. Had Gourry called her 'chan' for other reasons than because he thought she was a child? Her flush grew. People already thought of them as a couple... and she'd never truly denied it.... Pulling her hair back, she shivered again, but this time not from the cold. What would happen to her now?

Filia stepped forward, a nervous smile planted upon her face. "W-well... I can provide some mass transportation," she stated, just loud enough for the group to hear. "Though I'm not sure I can carry ALL of you...."

Ninoa raised her hand. "I have a question," she asked. Virtually alone among the group, she seemed to not be bothered at all by the cold, even though she was only wearing her regular garments -- and, of course, a smile. "Did we get what we were looking for, back in that underground city? And I think I know where we can go next...." She then opened up a map and marked off Kytares with an "X."

A figure shrouded in thick velvet cloth stepped out of the snow, hood pulled to shadow its face. The person inside the cloak couldn't be too tall; on most people the fabric would barely come past their knees, but on them it swept the ground. As the breeze brought more snow, the figure's presence brought warm scents of summer and of magic, potent magic. A soft, familiar voice spoke. "I can teleport you all to wherever you wish to be, through the Time Gate. Darius will not be happy about it, but I can do it anyway." A slender gloved hand came up to the hood, pushing it back and revealing a length of dark blue hair gathered into a topknot, the rest allowed to hang loose, and bright aqua eyes set against a pretty but very pale face. Elven ears peeked out from among the thick blue hair. "Assuming you'll allow me."

Vrumugun studied the girl. He had no idea who Darius was, nor what going through a time gate would do. He wasn't even sure they could trust her.

But what's life without risks?

"Let us take her up on her offer," he suggested at last. "I don't see that we have much choice. Unless any of you DO know mass-transport magic."

The girl chuckled at the creepy mage. "You don't sound like you trust me much. My name's Lyssa, by the way. I don't think you and I have met. It's been a while since I've been allowed out of my... room, shall we call it? I've been... grounded." A light smile twisted her lips.

"The Time Gate?" Arcius raised a brow. "How fascinating! And Darius is still in charge of it? Wonderful!" He clapped his hands. "Lords! Ladies! Lady Lyssa has offered to instantaneously transport us. I propose a sunny, warm place, such as Da'Kari in the coastal state of Naween in the Alliance. It is a quaint place that will give us a chance to get comfortably rested and acquainted. I, for one, am quite curious as to just what may be going on with our new-found companions."

Soon, a shimmering portal had been opened. Arcius looked at everyone. "Well, go on!" Smiling, he followed the group through the portal Lyssa had so generously created. And if Darius was still as crotchety as the tales said, it would just make things more interesting. After all, shinzoku were par with mazoku, and this party had slain enough of those.

Chuckling, Lyssa closed the portal and ushered the party quickly out of another one. A rather intimidating figure stepped behind her, hands on his hips. He towered over her, standing 7'3" to her 4'9". "Innocence," spoke Darius in a testy tone of voice, "what were those people doing here?"

"Same thing I was doing." Lyssa's, Innocence's, smile was true to her name and she stepped quickly towards the portal the party had just passed through.

"And what was that?"

"Leaving!" And with that she blipped away, leaving a confused Darius alone with nothing more to do than sweatdrop.

Thorn closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she glanced over to the big mazoku, who was talking with Froard. "Oni," she said simply. The demon glared at her in the same manner that he glared at everything. "You seek that party, correct?"

Oni grumbled. "Yes, I seek the group that holds the saber. You know, the one that we could have gotten if not for a little piece of dragon carp that got in our way, whose name will not remain silent," Oni then leapt to his feet and boiled over with his long-suppressed rage, "YUN CAZAMA!" The mazoku sat back down next to a shivering Froard. "You know who I'm talking about."

Thorn looked around. The city of Kytares had taken quite a beating, but fortunately for its inhabitants, the labyrinthine networks of tunnels had ample space to provide shelter for the worst of winter. "The group you seek is now far from here, in the south." Oni's scowl deepened. "No fear," she added. "My mistress has left a package for us."

"OHH BOY!" yelled the changeling. "I love presents! What did we get? Chocolate? Toys? Gift certificates?" Froard's rambling was met by Oni's hand grabbing him by his neck and tossing him into the air. He flew out of sight, and came crashing back down at Thorn's feet.

"We shall see soon enough," said Oni. "Whatever it is, it is important enough that the group will come seek us out."

Thorn smiled grimly. "All we have to do is move to more comfortable climes and pick our battleground."

Oni smiled under his mask. "So be it. Let us take our prize and wait for them at them at the edge of the forest. Let us prepare a feast in their honor!"

Thorn nodded, standing to move out with the other two. One small dragon child for bait. All she needed now was for her mistress to set things into motion.